


You Can't Outrun Your Problems (if they're faster than you are)

by DigitalMoriarty



Category: Justice League - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Aren't AUs fun?, I have spent too much time rambling with my datemate about this, In which Barry is the host for the Speed Force, M/M, Pietro does not know what he's getting into, The concept of speed is sentient and Helpful
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 17:38:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13036107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalMoriarty/pseuds/DigitalMoriarty
Summary: Pietro knows trouble when he sees it. And when it offers him a race. Too bad knowing trouble when he sees it doesn't keep him from from running face first into it.





	You Can't Outrun Your Problems (if they're faster than you are)

**Author's Note:**

> Poor Pietro. He didn't mean to get the Speed Force interested in him.

 

Pietro does not know what's going on.

  
Like. Like.  _ He knows that face. _   
  


He doesn't know that cheerful expression   
He certainly doesn't know this eager puppyness   
He  _ remembers _ this person.   
  


He  _ remembers _ running for the joy of it at the fastest speed he could manage and then there's someone  _ keeping pace _ with him. There's a strange expression on their face Something inhuman staring out from pretty eyes.   
And the _ voice _ . Somehow a whisper and a shout and  _ in his mind _ all at once.   
  


"Do you want to have a race?"   
  


And he suddenly  _ knows _ what this is   
No one has ever told him   
No one has ever even mentioned the  _ possibility _ of it.   
But he  _ knows _ .   
  


And the same way he knows what it is, he knows he  _ really does not want to race it _ .   
Not unless it's told him the stakes   
The rules   
  


And he is used to his sister who is only human because gods don't fuss over their nail polish that much.   
  


But this isn't something as  _ puny _ as a god.   
  


His sister can warp the world to suit her, as long as she has the proverbial lever and place to stand.   
But this. This is a  _ fundamental part of the universe _ .   
  


There is not a lever long enough or a solid enough place to stand for his sister to change  _ this. _   
Death, he knows, is also theoretically part of the universe. But the death his sister had once defied for a pet cat (Grumbles had been a good cat though and entirely worth it) was different than the primal entropic force.   
Just as  _ he _ is fast. But he's not  _ that _ .   
  


And so he says "...maybe later..." and  _ slows _ as fast he can.   
Digs his heels in and winces as the force of his sudden change in speed smacks into him like a sledgehammer   
(Usually it just  _ looks _ like he's stopped suddenly. He'd been shedding speed before that. This  _ is _ stopping suddenly. And it  _ hurts _ .)   
  


And he turns on his heel and _bolts_  for the safety of his twin.   
And then...   
  


Then there's now and someone introducing himself as Barry Allen and bouncing on his toes and saying he's never met another speedster before and does he want to have a race sometime? Something like loser buys ice cream? Just around the world or something.   
  


And he  _ knows that face _ . He has had  _ nightmares _ about that face. About the alien strangeness showing up again and running and running and he's  _ not fast enough _ and his sister can't save him if he dies in this place. And he's racing against light in vacuum and he can't  _ breathe _ ...   
  


But... but that isn't really the same face.   
  


Oh, those are the pretty eyes and the sharp cheekbones and pink lips. But they are very  _ human _ .

  
And babbling about how someone told him Pietro actually knows how to fight and it would be  _ so cool _ if Pietro could maybe teach him a few things? Because Barry's mostly just been shoving people and running away and it's been working okay but he should  _ probably _ learn how to like... punch someone if he has to or something? Oh and someone said he had a  _ twin _ and could he meet her because he's never  _ met _ a set of twins before and he knows they're not identical but he's heard some  _ really cool _ things twins can do and are any of them true?   
  


And Barry's talking at a speed that only he can probably understand (and it's nice to talk to someone who's at that speed) and this... very very confusing   
Because that's the  _ body _ that offered to race him.   
But not the  _ person _ that offered to race him.

 

And he finds he doesn't have any option but to try and keep up.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly cannot seem to stop myself from making AUs. Just ask my datemate. So I hope you all enjoy this one.


End file.
